Lot Essay
The fragmentary inscription to the upper left corner is on a tablet, which should fully read 'PAX AVG' and, on the opposite side the inscription should read 'VIC AVG'. This tapestry forms part of a series depicting The Story of the Emperor Augustus. H.C. Marillier in English Tapestries of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1930, pp. 15-18, attributes them to a post-Mortlake workshop. Based on further tapestries from the same series and other subjects with identical borders, an attribution to Antwerp is more likely. D. Heinz has found evidence that this series was commissioned by the less well-known weaver Jan Frans Cornelissen (d. 1678), a brother-in-law of Michel Wauters, from Justus van Egmont (d. 1674) in 1659 (D. Heinz, Europäische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, p. 80). The documentary evidence that this series was designed by van Egmont is further supported by firmly attributed series such as the Zenobia (see lot 224 of this sale) and the Cleopatra series. Van Egmont, a pupil of Rubens', was court painter to Louis XIII and Louis XIV and was one of the founders of the Académie de Peinture in Paris in 1648, but returned to Brussels and Antwerp in the mid-17th Century where he designed tapestry series.
A panel depicting Augustus Sacrificing at an Altar was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 13 and 15 January 1992, lot 528, and a further panel of the same subject, the property of Major J. R. Abbey, was sold at Sotheby's London, 10 November 1967, lot 26. A further subject, depicting Rome negociating between Augustus and Marcus Aurelius was sold anonymously at Etude Tajan, Paris, 9 November 1995, lot 212. A scene with Augustus seated on a throne and a maiden kneeling before him, with a general wearing the same armour as the general in the foreground to the right in this tapestry, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 31 May 1990, lot 255. Interestingly the same border with the same inscriptions to the tablets can also be found on a series depicting the Acts of the Apostles after Raphael, one panel of which was sold anonymoulsy at Sotheby's Monaco, 25 June 1984, lot 3252.
A panel depicting Augustus Sacrificing at an Altar was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 13 and 15 January 1992, lot 528, and a further panel of the same subject, the property of Major J. R. Abbey, was sold at Sotheby's London, 10 November 1967, lot 26. A further subject, depicting Rome negociating between Augustus and Marcus Aurelius was sold anonymously at Etude Tajan, Paris, 9 November 1995, lot 212. A scene with Augustus seated on a throne and a maiden kneeling before him, with a general wearing the same armour as the general in the foreground to the right in this tapestry, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 31 May 1990, lot 255. Interestingly the same border with the same inscriptions to the tablets can also be found on a series depicting the Acts of the Apostles after Raphael, one panel of which was sold anonymoulsy at Sotheby's Monaco, 25 June 1984, lot 3252.